We've been trained to recognize meats, eggs, and dairy products as good sources of protein. However, according to Brigitte Mars, in her book 'Rawsome!,' protein can also be found in many plant-source foods. Some of these foods contain more protein than any food of animal origin.
Proteins are made of amino acids, and twenty-two amino acids are known to be necessary for our physiological health. Eight of these amino acids are termed "essential," because they cannot be produced in the human body and must instead by consumed through the diet. Protein is necessary for tissue growth and repair as well as the formation of blood cells, antibodies, enzymes, hormones, and neurotransmitters. Protein provides the body with energy and plays a role in the body's balancing of water and electrolytes.
While it is imperative to have protein in the diet, it is also important not to overdo it. Excess protein can overload the lympathic system's ability to cleanse itself. A diet that is excessively rich in protein can contribute to heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis, gout, kidney, osteoporosis, and liver and prostate disorders.
For those who are interested in a Raw Food approach to nutrition, it is interesting to learn that the amino acids in protein start becoming destroyed at 118 degrees F, and are almost completely destroyed by 160 degrees F. In terms of food, this means that cooking causes food proteins to coagulate and become denatured, making them less digestible and more likely to produce inflammation. According to Mars, cooking food to a temperature just under 200 degrees F causes leukocytosis, a condition wherein leukocytes (white blood cells that attack foreign substances) are called in to help with digestion.
Because cooked proteins are at least partially denatured, food that is cooked provides the body with much less protein than the same food in its raw state. Protein-intake recommendations (currently around 70 grams a day) tend to be based on cooked rather than raw food. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute have found that when protein is consumed in its raw state, a person needs only half as much as when protein is consumed after being cooked.
Protein that contain all eight essential amino acids are called complete proteins These are found in foods including: Alfalfa leaf, buckwheat, clover blossoms, fruits (most of them), garbanzo beans, leafy green vegetables, lentils, millet, mung beans, nuts (all except hazelnuts/filberts), pumpkin seeds, quinoa, sesame seeds, soy foods, and sunflower greens.
Other good protein sources include: blue-green algae, broccoli, coconut, avocados, dates, Hemp seeds, spirulina, watercress, and many more foods.
Generally speaking, vegetables have a higher percentage of protein per caloric content than nuts, and nuts have a higher percentage of protein per caloric content than fruits, but there are exception to these generalizations.
Recommended reading-Rawsome! Brigitte Mars.
Proteins are made of amino acids, and twenty-two amino acids are known to be necessary for our physiological health. Eight of these amino acids are termed "essential," because they cannot be produced in the human body and must instead by consumed through the diet. Protein is necessary for tissue growth and repair as well as the formation of blood cells, antibodies, enzymes, hormones, and neurotransmitters. Protein provides the body with energy and plays a role in the body's balancing of water and electrolytes.
While it is imperative to have protein in the diet, it is also important not to overdo it. Excess protein can overload the lympathic system's ability to cleanse itself. A diet that is excessively rich in protein can contribute to heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis, gout, kidney, osteoporosis, and liver and prostate disorders.
For those who are interested in a Raw Food approach to nutrition, it is interesting to learn that the amino acids in protein start becoming destroyed at 118 degrees F, and are almost completely destroyed by 160 degrees F. In terms of food, this means that cooking causes food proteins to coagulate and become denatured, making them less digestible and more likely to produce inflammation. According to Mars, cooking food to a temperature just under 200 degrees F causes leukocytosis, a condition wherein leukocytes (white blood cells that attack foreign substances) are called in to help with digestion.
Because cooked proteins are at least partially denatured, food that is cooked provides the body with much less protein than the same food in its raw state. Protein-intake recommendations (currently around 70 grams a day) tend to be based on cooked rather than raw food. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute have found that when protein is consumed in its raw state, a person needs only half as much as when protein is consumed after being cooked.
Protein that contain all eight essential amino acids are called complete proteins These are found in foods including: Alfalfa leaf, buckwheat, clover blossoms, fruits (most of them), garbanzo beans, leafy green vegetables, lentils, millet, mung beans, nuts (all except hazelnuts/filberts), pumpkin seeds, quinoa, sesame seeds, soy foods, and sunflower greens.
Other good protein sources include: blue-green algae, broccoli, coconut, avocados, dates, Hemp seeds, spirulina, watercress, and many more foods.
Generally speaking, vegetables have a higher percentage of protein per caloric content than nuts, and nuts have a higher percentage of protein per caloric content than fruits, but there are exception to these generalizations.
Recommended reading-Rawsome! Brigitte Mars.
great info!
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